Synapse
by Absol24
Summary: When games are abandoned, left to die in a lonely corner, hatred festers. Like the fool that I am, I still waited. Years would go by, and not a single glance would come my way. I watched as everything changed before my eyes, yet I never saw the change coming on in myself.
1. In which our tale begins

**Synapse**

**Chapter 1: In which our tale begins.**

**Disclaimer! Obviously, I don't own anything. This is rated the way it is for adult language, and some violence in later chapters.**

**Author's note: Some of you may remember a certain character, Etome. This is a completely different storyline. I took a simpler approach, one that came to me in a dream. So and so forth, here is chapter one. Oh and this takes place a few months after the movie.**

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When games are abandoned, left to die in a lonely corner, hatred festers. Like the fool that I am, I still waited. Years would go by, and not a single glance would come my way. I watched as everything changed before my eyes, yet I never saw the change coming on in myself.

Our story starts thirty three years ago, in Mr. Litwak's family fun center and arcade. Back then, the place was just starting out. It was mostly a converted bowling alley with a few classic video games such as Space Invaders, and Pac-man among others, there was also an unnamed game, sitting in the best spot, right up front. You see, Mr. Litwak had a friend who was a game designer, and would later go on to be famous, but at the time he was struggling to get any of the major video game manufacturers in on his ideas. So, he decided to build a prototype to show off his biggest idea at the time.

It was a simple 2d side scroller, taking place in a fantasy world. Mind you, it was still 8bit, but quite advanced for it only being a prototype. The first level was just a forest, with the main character fighting against several monsters such as dragons, wolves, and the rare vampire.

The second level is a little underdeveloped, and is just a simple cave with glowing crystals on the walls of it, and an underground lake in the background. Unfortunately, the only mob that fights you is a hoard of bats.

Speaking of the main character, her name was Etome. She was a girl with pale skin, dark blonde hair, and a black cloak, she also had a very dark blue, knee high dress on, with a silver belt and a black quiver. Her weapons were just a simple obsidian bow and sword.

When she was first plugged in, she was center attention! Everyone loved the change in game play styles, and for a month or two she managed to keep up the glory. Then everything went to shit. _TurboTime _was plugged in. Right next to her game. She started noticing the lack of players very soon, and at first Etome actually welcomed the break. She still got people coming to her game, and that was more than enough to satisfy her.

It stayed like this for the first few weeks, and after hours she would head out to Tapper's, finally having enough energy to do so, since her work days were shorter, so to speak. And every time, Turbo would always be there. Etome was at first annoyed by the egocentric racer, but she had to admit, they had some interesting conversations. She let her walls down a little, even though she had a bad feeling about him, and they became friends.

This was probably one of the worst mistakes she ever made.

Even when her game was only played when the line for TurboTime was too long, she still remained friends with him, and as two years went by Turbo would still always be waiting at Tapper's for her. A new game was plugged in, called "Fix-it Felix Jr." and they went to go greet them together. She often found Ralph or sometimes even Felix coming to have a friendly conversation over at Tapper's on occasion, and generally enjoyed the time she spent outside of her own game.

Then one fateful day came along, the day that everything fell apart.

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**Okay, so that's chapter one! Please review, I feed off of praise! I don't think I'll continue this without responses from my reviewers... **

**One more thing, this is going to be a rather twisted, Turbo x OC story, though it isn't too heavy on this portion of the plot. Basically, it is just a minor little fact added in near the very end of the story. I was the first to a Turbo x OC on here, and I'm going to continue that legacy no matter how hard it is on my psyche! **


	2. In which Etome is shoved into darkness

**Synapse**

**Chapter 2: In which Etome is shoved into darkness.**

**Author's note: Please, please review. I really need that boost to my confidence.**

The day that Road Blasters was plugged in. The day that Turbo let his jealousy take over. Whatever you may call it, that is the day that everything changed for Etome; the day that all the horrors she would come to know closely began.

She couldn't believe it. She watched as Turbo ran from his game, and took out another. She watched as both games were unplugged and sent away.

_That was her friend. _

Thoughts of this ran through her head as his game was taken out the door, and her eyes clouded over. She realized he wasn't going to come back, or regenerate, he would never wait for her at Tapper's again, or make a witty remark at something she said, or even just be around anymore. She felt sadness pricking away at her, but she shut her eyes tightly and stood up straight, turning away from the other games.

She wouldn't let them see her weakness. They couldn't know. They would use it against her, surely. Right?

It only got worse. Nobody played her game, at all. Take away the goal, and the help shall go too. She would curl up under a tree after hours, and just stared blankly at the screen. This would go on for a few weeks, and nobody did anything to stop the wheels that had been set in motion.

Then one night, she had drifted off into a fitful sleep, and she suddenly jerked awake, pain ripping through her. The last thing she saw before the absence of time, was the land around her, fading to black with only small, purple wire-like structures showing where the land once was.

It was then that the darkness came; the lapse in time.

She knew nothing, felt nothing, was not anything but pixels floating through vast networks of coding, when suddenly strands starting reattaching themselves to her pixels, and suddenly the pain took over as she respawned at the first level. She couldn't remember what happened between the time when she blacked out, and now.

All she knew was that her game wasn't where it was supposed to be... in fact, she could tell just from looking out at the screen that something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

While Etome wouldn't realize it until later, her game had been moved to the back corner of the arcade, and was directly plugged into a wall outlet; hence no outside communication. As the days go by, she felt a lingering sense of dread.

Months passed, then years. As the time went by her thoughts slowly grew more vicious, more evil, more...insane. Just sitting there watching as dust collected on the screen of her game, yet seeing all the others come and go.

Two years in: "Somebody will come, I'm sure! But they're having so much fun playing the other games, and yet here I am... they made a real mistake! Surely I am still a good, fun game to play? Yes?"

Ten years in: "The constant onslaught of gamers was worse today. Yes... it was. I HOPE THEY- No... mustn't be angry with them. It isn't their fault I'm back here. It was that damned TurboTime! I should have seen this coming, ever since that game got plugged in it has done nothing good for me."

Twenty years in: "T-they cannot just overlook me! NO! NOT ANYMORE! I-I-I have to do something! IT'S WITH THEM MY QUARREL IS! They will abandon anyone at the sight of something better, and I'm SO SICK OF IT! They will pay for this! SO long... so long...so long I've been here..."

Thirty years in: "Game over...game over...over...all over! End, end, end, end, end... ALL ENDED. ALL ENDED LONG AGO!"

And then... she saw somebody she never wanted to see again. She saw Turbo, in Sugar Rush as he glitched back and forth into King Candy on the racetrack. She could only stare, feeling every shred of sanity leave as she also witnessed his death. She forced herself to look away, but the memory only blinded her further.

It really was all over. Or so she thought. It was then that the darkness came again, as her coding was suddenly wrenched apart, and the landscape turned to nothing but a black void, and small purple wires.


End file.
